He stayed dead doing what he loved

"Big George" Helms had to wait 'til death to get the ride of his life.

Helms loved NASCAR racing, but at 6-feet-5 inches and 400 pounds, he couldn't fit into a race car. When the 54-year-old died from a heart attack Dec. 28, his friends decided to help make his dream of participating in a NASCAR race come true.

"His friends came up to us during the memorial service and asked us if they could take his ashes to the NASCAR race," said Helms' mother, Dixie Helms told the Medford Mail-Tribune. "I said 'He'd love that.' "

They did more than just take the Talent man's ashes to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week. Mara Brodeur of Medford approached race car driver Mike Harmon and asked him to drive Big George's ashes around the track.

Harmon taped the urn to the fire extinguisher of his Nationwide Series car during the practice session Friday. He told ESPN he could hear someone squealing when he went through Turns 1 and 2.

"I swear I did," ESPN quoted Harmon as saying. "I heard a noise I've never heard before. It happened just one time, through Turns 1 and 2."

Brodeur phoned Helms' family afterward, including his mother, two brothers and five sisters.